Real Sociedad’s Willian José has been criticised in Spain for his attempts to push through a move to Tottenham.
Spurs have identified the Brazilian striker as a replacement for Harry Kane, who has been ruled out until April at the earliest with a hamstring injury.
They have already seen a €15m bid rejected by the Spanish club, who are not thought to be keen on letting their star striker leave the club this month.
Their reluctance forced José to ask the club to leave him out of the club’s win over Espanyol in midweek in an attempt to push through the move, a request they reluctantly agreed to.
This move has not gone down well with Diario Vasco journalist Miguel González, who describes the decision as a ‘miscalculation’ by the striker.
While González accepts that the ‘individual interests are more important than collective ones’ he argues that things at La Real are different to other clubs as there ‘the group is the most important thing’, and it is ‘strange’ José doesn’t know that as he’s been there since 2016.
González is even understanding of the desire to play for Tottenham, and work under ‘one of the most successful coaches in the world’ in José Mourinho, but says José has made a ‘big mistake’.
That mistake was trying to force through the move to Tottenham, with the journalist stating the way José went about it was a ‘clumsy manoeuvre’ that ‘punctured the bone’.
He says that José has ‘pushed the wrong side’ and warned that Real Sociedad will not be ‘fooled’ when it comes to the transfer and will demand his market value from Spurs, which is €30m.
González blames the striker for the hold-up, saying it is his fault that he signed a new deal, with included the €70m release clause that is making Real Sociedad demand more money for a sale.
If he hadn’t signed that deal, which also included an improvement in wages, his exit would now be ‘much easier’ as the clause would be ‘within everyone’s reach’.
Instead, González argues, he decided to ‘break the commitment’, and it’s up to him to find a way to get himself out of the ‘mess’ he’s put himself in, a task that he warns will not be easy.
José, for his part, is not taking the media speculation very well, with Diario Vasco reporting that he hit out at reporters during an open training session earlier today.
According to the newspaper, the Brazilian told journalists they were ‘liars’ who ‘record, record, and then tell lies’, which is sure to go down well with those who are already treating him as something of a traitor.
